Category Archives: Homebrewing
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I decided to take another stab at the Saison Brett that turned out drinkable but not where I wanted it to. I also decided to do another Belgian Wit beer as well as a re-brew of the Berliner Weisse I did last year that was such a huge hit that I’m re-doing it but with [...]
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This beer was brewed last month and received 10 days of dry hopping followed by an extensive 3 day cold crashing at 38 degrees. I kegged this and allowed to carbonate slowly (no keg agitation / shaking) over the course of 4 days at 20PSI. The smell is better than the taste but overall, this [...]
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I finally got around to tapping my stout again. The beer brewed in late November, kegged late December with an infusion of bourbon soaked oak and vanilla beans for 2 weeks and then I realized it was entirely too oaky so I decided to just let it sit for a while. It’s tasting really fantastic. [...]
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I repeatedly tell friends that I’m a shitty brewer, an amateur brewer and someone who’s just starting out. Simply because my hoppy beer is hoppy and drinkable with minimal hops floating around in the keg, doesn’t mean I should go and open my own brewery. To the sort of people who read this blog, that’s [...]
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I now have seven corny kegs which is fantastic for some beers that I want to get out of carboys and carbonated to make things easier to tap. By Sunday, all of them will be full of fermented beer! (sorry for the absolutely terrible iPhone photos) As a follow up to my post a few [...]
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Truthfully, I need a pro to sample these for me. The one on the left is the result of completely overshooting my grain bill and, when I took the original gravity reading on brew-day in January, BeerSmith told me I’d probably end up with a 13% Saison (Wyeast French Saison + Brettanomyces Lambicus). It’s been [...]
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Monday, I bought a wort chiller. The simple copper tubing that is placed into a brew kettle, using water from the tap, you cool wort down from boiling temperature to a temp suitable for yeast pitching much faster than alternative methods. Last summer, when I started brewing, I did the ice-bath method but I [...]
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ICUs ICUs ICUs!!! My first experiment with these has been a success. I brewed two IPAs just about 2 months ago. The first, a Surly Furious clone and the second, a Double Galaxy clone loosely based on this one. I kegged these and waited 2 weeks for things to settle a bit and for carbonation [...]
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International Citrus Units (ICUs) are something new and Shaun Hill is the guy who came up with it. No matter what people think of Shaun, his beer is fantastic and some IPAs of late have included ICUs. It sounds like a fancy acronym but it’s quite simple. The basic end of it is that you’re [...]
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Still being a total noob at home brewing, I try to spend more time reading and learning than I do brewing. The ratio has been good so far. I often have to read each book twice due to my utter lack of comprehension on a first reading. I’m that way with every book and wish [...]
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I brewed once in January and 3 times so far in February with back to back brew days yesterday. It’s nice to have the kegerator full of kegs and these beers fermenting away. I probably have half of my Chimay and Belgian wit beers left. The Berliner weisse is about 20% gone and I drink [...]
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Today, I brewed another Saison. The “experimental saison” category in my home brewing continues. Honestly, I’ve yet to find a saison that compares to my favorites such as Hill Farmstead and Boulevard Brewing. I continue to call this category an experiment. #1 was terrible and #2 was half drinkable. #3 wasn’t too bad and now [...]
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Today, I brewed a clone of Surly Furious. It’s actually an all-grain kit from Midwest Supplies. I like their all-grain kits especially when I’m feeling lazy. I almost always make changes to them. In this one, I beefed up the 2-row and Munich malt. I also did an addition of the juice of 8 Navel [...]
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My first attempt at a stout which received a coffee infusion came out great. It was so popular that most of it was consumed by friends so I only have a few bottles remaining. It is a very delicious stout that I’ll rebrew many times again. The second attempt is a very big stout and [...]
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My month away from beer has been only slightly successful. Hill Farmstead Mary and Life without Principle #2 were released so I did try both of them to get my reviews in (Tickers Gotta Tick). Other than that, I did sample a couple of ounces of each home brew last week to see how the [...]
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That “Smoked Chocolate Porter” extract beer I brewed in June which tasted like total crap at the time (burnt chocolate campfire porter) has improved a lot. I had a bottle just a few weeks ago. It’s probably peaking where I’d say that it’s not getting any better than it was in November BUT the age [...]
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In August, I found a yeast strain on discount at the home-brew store as it was nearly expired. I picked up a strain of Wyeast 3191 (Berliner-Weisse) and brewed in September. Around Thanksgiving, a nice pellicle formed and I put in 5 pounds of Rhubarb and 4 pounds of Strawberries. Finally, around New Years Eve, [...]
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A quick end of year update on home brewing I began this journey in May and have brewed quite a few batches. I think I’ve done 20 batches this year but I honestly can’t remember. I should keep a batch notebook. Anyway, the beer I brewed in September using White Labs’ Berliner Weisse vial received [...]
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Tonight, I took some samples of the batches of beer brewed 2 weeks ago. These will all spend a bit longer in the primaries but the Berliner Weisse which was brewed in September might be ready to drink. Let’s see. Russian Imperial Stout, 12-13% ABV expected. I’m not sure yet what sort of additions it [...]
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This was a bummer to wake up to this morning. 5 gallons of wort was on the floor. It was the batch I brewed last night. I don’t bang my carboys up but this was bound to happen eventually. Time to switch to plastic. Luckily, it was a cheap batch. 5% Hefeweizen with a pound [...]
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I’m actually brewing ONE more batch of beer tomorrow which will equal 5 total beers fermenting with 4 beers full and on tap plus about 40 more bottles of home-brew from previous batches (12% Barleywine, 8% Oaked Chocolate Stout, 3% Raspberry Hefe and my 8% Orange and Honey porter). Too much beer? Well, the most [...]
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The beauty of an oily and viscous wort coming out of the mash-tun and into the brew kettle was awe-inspiring. I have brewed 2 previous stouts. Those two were 8 & 9.5% ABV but were from extract. One was a standard extract of light malts with some steeped barley and grain which gave it the [...]
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It was back in early-September that I wrote about home brewing another batch of various beers. Those beers were brewed and turned out fine despite my fears that all was lost. The Honey Porter, Raspberry wheat and Citra IPA were great and were tapped first. Those finished up last week and, on Monday, I tapped [...]
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I got this guy setup over the weekend. Ordered it from Midwest supplies. After my failed BIAB experiment, I decided to give this a go and was very happy with the results. It made brew day a lot less stressful. Will post more about the upcoming batch of beers being brewed once I find time [...]
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I’m tired of friends coming over asking what’s on tap. It’s not much work to list things out but, through the night, I’m asked again and again what’s on tap. So..we have a solution. Elizabeth bought some chalk paper and we wrote what’s on tap! Pretty good system I think.
I'm Adam Jackson and today, this 24 year old helps companies do cool things with technology.
